The state of North West and the legacy of Bophuthatswana
The government of Bophuthatswana was notorious for giving its citizens free stuff. The gave out free food and groceries (Namola-leuba/ Operation Hunger), free clothes (usually dumped across tribal offices, where the communities would then come pick stuff for themselves at random), free chickens and eggs (delivered occasionally by big lorries from Agrichicks) and free buses to transport people to Mmabatho Stadium (an annual event), where there will be lots of free meat and food.
These offerings were jack-rolled by Lucas Manyane Mangope himself - with an interest to legitimise his puppet state and fascist rule among the people, and the Republic (through grants from Pretoria and proceeds from apartheid mining conglomerates) - with an interest to validate apartheid and/or separate development. Thus the legacy of Bop is that it engendered a ‘dependent society', as compared to an activist society'.
Citizen activism is of course a necessary ingredient for progress and development in a democratic state, and it is concept which many in the province are still struggling to adopt. It is therefore not a coincidence the regions that have since made some adjustments and are gradually developing (Bojanala and the Southern district) have had more union activities in mines and factories than the other districts.
Another barrier to a proactive North West society (and also a legacy of Bophuthatswana), is the fear (among the people) of participating openly in political activities, and this fear was inculcated by Mangope's reign of terror upon those who dared to deviate from his preferred ideology. Most of these communities are still afraid to challenge the authorities even when such demands relate to their immediate and basic needs.
It is against this particular background, that the honourable Sipho Mfundisi argued that "women and girls could walk at night in the streets unescorted without any fear" because "there was law and order" (see article). But he does not explain to us ‘how' this particular law and order was maintained and/or sustained. If he were to do so, then he would have been compelled to admit that the people of Bophuthatswana (not just criminals alone) were TERRIFIED of Mangope. His repressive tactics were so obvious (even to criminals) that everyone was compelled to literally stay in line.
To demonstrate this fear and terror, there was a ‘board' when one approached the Bop military quarters (10 SAI) from the side of the Ramatlabama border to Botswana, which read: "give a soldier a lift". Simply because of this ‘board', people were terrified to pass soldiers along the road without giving them a lift. It was almost like failure to comply with the ‘board' was a punishable criminal offence. For a judge in a high court to applaud such a status quo and hold it as desirable is a sure sign that there are still elements of backwardness deeply embedded in the province's constitutional structures, and that must be a cause for concern to all progressive communities in that area.
In other developments, some of the citizens still bemoan the collapse of industrial zones like Babelegi and others. But instead, they should be asking why the current administration did not have plans in place to substitute those zones with new initiatives, since they catered for job demands in surrounding areas. In the end, their dissolution was inevitable because Mangope's cronies had their paws all over them. To sustain these entities, the new administration had to either buy the cronies out, or continue doing business with them; but both these options would have inadvertently legitimised ill-gotten gains.
In conclusion, the allegations that the current administration in the province has no political will to foster development are entirely unsubstantiated. The main challenge remains a lack of broad activism among the people, which is largely a consequence of the past regime's hard-line attitude towards its subjects. A ‘political will' is partly stimulated by what the people advocate for and what becomes popular opinion within communities.
The service delivery protests that have emerged throughout the province are probably a good sign that the people are beginning to slowly grasp the concept of democracy, even though these remain relatively sporadic when one observes the challenges faced by the people throughout the province. But to address some of these challenges, the people of North West have to muster the spirit of activism and proceed from there to develop the province to the standards of its more progressive counterparts and beyond.
Setumo Stone is a writer, social commentator and youth activist.
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
